Openings: Cafe Sandra on First Avenue

Cafe Sandra debuted last week at 194 First Ave. between 11th Street and 12th Street... with the food service arriving on Saturday (they were serving a nice looking tomato ricotta danish, among other items like breakfast burritos and sandwiches) ...

The mural is of Sandra, the chef here...

Sandra and Jake, her business partner, previously ran O Cafe on Sixth Avenue and 12th Street. Cafe Sandra is their first space as owners. 

They are open daily from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Find their menu at the Cafe Sandra website at this link. 

The previous tenant, Space 194, a hybrid tea-coffee shop-gallery, closed in early 2020 after nearly a year in service.

Thank you to Lola Sáenz for these photos!

The Astor Place Greenmarket returns TODAY

The Astor Place Greenmarket returns for the season starting today... where, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., you can find vendors that include: 

• Kernan Farms Vegetables from Cumberland County, N.J. 
• Remsburger Honey & Maple Honey & maple syrup from Dutchess County, N.Y. 
• Wilklow Orchards Orchard and small fruits, vegetables, cider, baked goods and jams from Ulster County, N.Y.
• Runner & Stone Baked goods from Kings County, N.Y. 

This marks the second year for the market, located on the south plaza at Astor Place (Eighth Street-Lafayette). It will be here through Nov. 23. More details at this link.

Photo from 2020 by Steven

Lucky Star is a 1950s-style ice cream shop opening 3 downtown locations this summer

Look for three locations of Lucky Star, a 1950s-style ice cream shop, opening this summer downtown, including on St. Mark's Place.

EVG contributor Stacie Joy took these photos yesterday on the northeast corner of Clinton and Delancey, where the first outpost is set to debut soon...

The shop features a to-go window offering up a variety of soft serve, milkshakes, sundaes and Italian ice...

There is also a Lucky Star in the works for 34 St. Mark's Place, the former Kyber Pass space between Second Avenue and Third Avenue, and the Two Bridges neighborhood.

Trigger, the longtime owner of the live music venue/bar the Continental (1991-2018) on Third Avenue at St. Mark's Place, is behind this new venture. 

Openings: Marinara Pizza debuts on 2nd Avenue

As we've been reporting (like here and here), Marinara Pizza is coming to the northeast corner of Second Avenue at 10th Street.

And yesterday was the pizzeria's opening day (thanks to Nick Solares for the pic!) at 160 Second Ave.

As noted before: An EVG reader told us that their most popular slice is the MVP, which features stripes of marinara sauce, vodka sauce and pesto on a square pie (the pic is from the Marinara social media) ...

For now, their hours are daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Find the menu here.

This is the fifth outpost for Marinara, which has locations on the UES, UWS, Midtown East and Park Avenue South. 

H/T Steven

Report: Christodora House board tells staff to get vaccination or risk losing jobs

The board of the Christodora House, the 16-floor, 83-unit residential building at 143 Avenue B, has reportedly asked two employees that they need to receive the COVID-19 vaccination — or risk losing their jobs. 

Per the Post:

The apartment building's board has informed a porter and doorman that they have until June 15 to receive at least one dose, or they will be let go. 

"The Board respects your decision," read the letter, which was seen by the Post. "However, we hope you will understand that your choice is not compatible with the Board's responsibility to provide the safest possible environment for all Christodora House staff members and residents."

The board was said to have offered the two employees $1,000 each to receive the vaccine.

"I never told them that I don’t want to get it — I just said 'not now,'" said Brandon of the vaccine. The 33-year-old porter, who declined to give his last name, fears the vaccine could trigger a flare-up of pre-existing health conditions, especially as he does not have health insurance.

Several residents of the landmarked building between Ninth Street and 10th Street have signed a petition in support of the two workers. 

Employers are allowed to require the COVID-19 vaccine, and can also legally provide incentives, including cash, to workers, according to guidance that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission updated late last month. 

EVG file photo

Hot in the city: Pinc Louds bring the (pre) summertime fun to La Plaza Cultural

Picking up from the previous post ... currently in a crackdown mode (to say the least), the NYPD would not let the Pinc Louds set move forward in Tompkins Square Park on Saturday evening. (No amplified music without a permit...)

However, the show was able to go on at a new location — La Plaza Cultural on Ninth Street at Avenue C, where attendees were treated to another euphoric performance on this hot (not-officially-summer-yet) night. 

EVG contributor Stacie Joy took these photos... 

In other Pinc Louds news, the band's new single, "Aire Acondicionado," drops on Friday.

Previously on EV Grieve:

• At the first Pinc Louds show of 2021 in Tompkins Square Park

• An end-of-summer appreciation: Pinc Louds  

A Saturday walk through the East Village

There was a movement to arbitrarily consider this past weekend as the unofficial official start of the summer after that soggy Memorial Day Weekend.

And it was suitably summery with temps in the 90s. EVG contributor Stacie Joy was out and about throughout the day and shared these photos from around the neighborhood...

... events that day included the Nexus Flea at its new location on First Avenue and Second Street...

The zine and plant swap at the First Street Garden...

Open Garden Day with Art Around the Hood...

... and in the early evening, Pinc Louds were planning to play a show in Tompkins Square Park. However, the NYPD and Parks Enforcement Patrol had other ideas... as they have been cracking down on amplified shows, vending, gathering, etc., etc.

In any event, Pinc Louds moved on to play at La Plaza Cultural on Ninth Street and Avenue C. Photos to follow in another post.

Openings: 7th Street Burger on 7th Street

7th Street Burger opened this past Thursday here at 91 E. Seventh St. just east of First Avenue.

On Instagram, their motto is "going back to simple." As such, you can see that the menu consists of just a few items — cheeseburgers, an Impossible burger, fries, Mexican Coca-Cola and water...

Owner Kevin Rezvani was previously operating a similar venture in his native New Jersey ... where he opened his first burger joint, Diesel & Duke, a few years back while he was a student at Rutgers. (He recently sold the business, now with five locations, to start 7th Street Burger.)

The quick-serve space is open Thursday through Sunday starting at 4 p.m. for takeout or delivery. (There are also a few tables outside.)

 

The storefront was previously the longtime home to Caracas Arepa Bar, which closed last fall.

787 Coffee makes it official at 159 2nd Ave.

A quick follow-up to our post last Wednesday about 787 Coffee signing a lease for two storefronts on the southwest corner of Second Avenue and 10th Street (officially 159 Second Ave.). 

The 787 signage is now up on the space to the west ... the former Third Rail Coffee will serve as 787's retail space, while the former dry cleaners next door will be an office for the company. 

With this opening later this summer, 787 will have four East Village locations, joining 131 E. Seventh St., 101 Second Ave. and 319. E. 14th St. (The company currently has eight coffee shops citywide.) 

The Seventh Street store, which opened in October 2018, was the first for co-owners Brandon Pena and Sam Sepulveda, who wanted to bring Puerto Rican coffee to NYC. (And 787 takes its names from Puerto Rico's area code.)

Third Rail Coffee did not reopen here following the PAUSE of March 2020. Next door, Danny's Cleaners merged their business with Lois Cleaners on the southeast corner of 10th Street and Third Avenue.

Thanks to Steven for the photo!

Mocha Red promises a 'Tulum Meets Wynwood Experience' on 4th Avenue

Temp signage arrived last week for Mocha Red at 127 Fourth Ave. between 12th Street and 13th Street.

We're told that this is a new concept from the folks behind Mocha Burger. 

And the concept? A steakhouse and mixology bar that will provide "a Tulum Meets Wynwood Experience" ...

BarBacon was here for nearly two years before bowing out during the pandemic. 

H/T Upper West Sider!

First sign of Yoshino New York on the Bowery

It has taken a while, but we have our first sign of Yoshino New York, the forthcoming sushi omakase restaurant here at 342 Bowery between Great Jones and Bond...

Master sushi chef Tadashi Yoshida first announced this project for No. 342 in the fall of 2018... with work starting on the space in August 2019, per BoweryBoogie. The opening was delayed, then came the pandemic. 

In the past year, Yoshida spent time in Japan, operating Yoshino New York from part of the Sushi Sagawa space in Tokyo.

The restaurant now has a September debut slated for the Bowery, per its Instagram account.

No. 342 was last home, in 2017, to the pop-up House of Fluff ... before that, we had a Subway (sandwich shop). The Subway opened here in late 2009, taking over after Downtown Music Gallery moved to Monroe Street. Plans for a restaurant here called Poke Run never materialized.

The return of Stomp

ICYMI: Stomp returns to the Orpheum Theatre on July 20. Tickets go on sale starting June 21.

As Deadline noted, "Stomp will be among the city's first Off-Broadway productions to resume performances post-pandemic shutdown." Proof of vaccination will be required for entry, per reports.

The show, featuring an array of "body percussionists," is now in its 26th year here on Second Avenue between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.

Photo from March by Steven

New deli to be the toast of 9th Street?

Signage progress here at 105 E. Ninth St.! 

As we've been noting, a bagel shop-deli is in the works here between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue dating back to November. The previous signage — three in total — led to some confusion. Was this Bagel Deli, Everything Bagel or Toasted Bagel?

Now we have clarity with a new sign and awning: Toasted Deli! (Exclamation point mine.) 

Anyway, haven't seen the place open just yet.

And before Toasted Deli: Yuba, the 9-year-old Japanese restaurant, closed here last summer as business dwindled during the pandemic.

Week in Grieview

Posts from this past week included ... (with a photo outside the recently reopened Nowhere on 14th Street)

• RIP Penny Rand (Wednesday) 

• Tenants: Pigeons have made empty apartment a health hazard in this Steve Croman-owned building on 7th Street (Tuesday) 

• You can own the shuttered Avenue A diner Odessa, now for sale on Craigslist (Friday) 

• Cinema Paradiso trying again with CB3 for Avenue A theater-cafe concept (Thursday) 

•  787 Coffee is opening a new location (and office) on 10th Street at 2nd Avenue (Wednesday) 

• Department of Buildings: 202 Avenue A does not have a "valid certificate of occupancy" (Tuesday) 

• Gaia Italian Cafe teases a return (Tuesday) 

• Think Coffee's brand-new curbside dining space catches fire on 4th Avenue (Thursday) 

• Uprooted tree in Tompkins Square Park (Friday) 

• Spiegel said to be returning to 1st Avenue (Wednesday) 

• Food Emporium has closed on Union Square (Monday) 

• Parks Department clears out the encampment from the Tompkins Square Park chess tables (Saturday) 

• Something to sing about: Planet Rose is reopening on Avenue A (Tuesday) 

• Rockwood Music Hall returns with live music (Thursday) 

• Gia signage arrives on the Bowery (Monday) 

• Marinara Pizza makes this corner of 10th Street and 2nd Avenue their own (Tuesday) 

• Stickett Inn bringing its cider to 1st Avenue (Thursday)

• Tony's Pizza debuts on 2nd Avenue (Thursday) 

• New alt.coffee concept vying for former Meatball Shop space on Stanton Street (Tuesday) 

... and yesterday, we're told that the 3CD Block Association planted flowers in the tree pits along Third Street between Avenue C and Avenue D ... said one resident: "An incredible effort on the part of people on the block."

H/T Bobby G!

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No Charlie Parker Jazz Festival for Tompkins Square Park this summer

Back on Thursday, SummerStage announced its 2021 season lineup ... with reduced-capacity in-person events returning on June 17. (Ticket requests begin tomorrow at noon.) The shows include the annual Charlie Parker Jazz Festival on Aug. 28-29. 

However, unlike in past years, Tompkins Square Park will not be hosting the Sunday portion of the festival. Performances on both days will be in Harlem's Marcus Garvey Park/Richard Rodgers Amphitheater, where it will be easier to support SummerStage's 2021 social-distancing guidelines and ticketing process. 

--update--

The shows are FREE. You do need to request a ticket, though. As Gothamist and other media outlets reported, there are also some shows, all in Central Park, that will serve as a benefit where there is a cost for tickets, including George Clinton & Parliament-Funkadelic on June 27, Machine Gun Kelly on Sept. 13 and Indigo Girls & Ani Difranco on Sept. 21. This link has more info on the shows.

--

The festival started in Tompkins Square Park in 1993 ... taking place near or on Parker's birthday on Aug. 29. Additional dates were added in Harlem in 2000. 

Parker, who died in 1955 at age 34, lived at 151 Avenue B from 1950-1954. That residential building between Ninth Street and 10th Street is landmarked. 

Photo from 2019 by Steven